Scoop: Now, We Need A Bar With Cats And Laundry.

IMAGE: theoregoncat.org

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PURRFECT PLAN: Portland is racing to open North America’s first cat cafe.
Purringtons Cat Lounge would follow a model used in Paris and Tokyo,
where cafe patrons sip wine and pet resident kitties. “It really is a
place I think Portlanders would eat up,” says organizer Kristen
Castillo. Purringtons plans to have wine, three rotating local beer taps
and “a limited variety of snacks,” including popcorn, pickles and beef
jerky, which the health code allows to be sold alongside animals. “You absolutely do not bring your own cats because they would probably kill each other,”
says Castillo. “I’m partnering with a shelter in Lake Oswego, Oregon
Cat Project, and [founder Dana Lionel] is going to provide us with 12
cats that get along with each other and like humans. Really, the idea is that any of those cats are adoptable.”
Expect to pay a cover, but stay as long as you want. “Tokyo has like
100 cat cafes,” Castillo says. “They charge you $10 and you can only
stay for an hour and they put a sticker on you so they know how long
you’ve been there. I don’t want to do that.” For more information, go to
Purringtons’ Facebook page, facebook.com/purringtonscatlounge.

BREAKING BROADWAY:
Bryan Cranston isn’t the only one making his Broadway debut this month.
Bill Rauch, artistic director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival,
directs the Breaking Bad star in All the Way, in which
Cranston plays Lyndon B. Johnson. The political drama, which was
commissioned by OSF, had its premiere, sans Cranston, in Ashland last
year. It’s the first OSF commission to hit Broadway. A second Robert Schenkkan play about LBJ, The Great Society, debuts at OSF this summer. >> In other news of local boys going big, comedian Ian Karmel—formerly of Beaverton and now of Los Angeles, where he’s a writer for Chelsea Lately—will do standup on Conan on Wednesday, March 12.

QUARTER POUR:Spin Laundry Lounge,
the long-awaited drunken laundromat at 750 N Fremont St., finally
cracked its doors March 10. The taps were still being installed at press
time, but the laundro-bar’s first kegs will be GoodLife Descender IPA and Upright Pilsner,
alongside wine, pour-over coffee, light snacks and panini. >> So
what do you do with that giant MADISON’S sign if you want to start a new
place in the now-closed Southeast Madison Street eatery? Apparently,
just like the Buddhists, you remove the “I.” East Side Deli owner Cory
Eddy and others from the venerable old-school hoagie shop have filed for
a liquor license to open a bar called MAD SON’S, with pinball machines and a pool table.

VINO AND THE VEEP: Vice President Joe Biden and his family reportedly stopped by Corkscrew Wine Bar in Westmoreland
on Saturday, March 8. According to the bar’s Facebook page, the
Bidenator sipped a glass of red while Secret Service agents manned the
door.